Museum of Zoology

The Zoological Museum of the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras (UPRRP) was initiated in the early 1960’s. It is a repository of animals, primarily from Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Most important current holdings include Puerto Rican amphibians and reptiles, marine mammal bones, mollusks, and arachnids. The Zoological Museum holds approximately 60.000 specimens. Our vision is that over the next years the museum will transition into a Caribbean biogeography research center, with new focus on broad surveys of Caribbean biota, and the establishment of a Caribbean biogeographical database.

There are several ongoing projects in the Zoological Museum. We are now in the process of reorganizing the entire collection. In 2014 we plan to start entering specimen’s barcode into a database, and at the same time update the database that exist already.. We have just completed a detailed inventory of our marine mammal holdings and are working with NOAA to register this collection.

The Zoology Museum is a public resource facility that is available to the academic community and the general public. Individuals or groups that are interested in visiting should call or write to make an appointment. Special arrangements can be made for off-island visitors.